Category Archives: fine motor skills

Here it is! Abbey’s Year video!! I don’t think I got around to doing one last year, but we have several older ones on our YouTube channel. It’s amazing to see how far she has come! She’s happier than ever, communicating more than ever and is really getting the hang of going new places and trying new things!

Celebrate with us as we look back and see how we have helped Abbey learn and grow!

So, yes, Abbey is a bit of a foodie, as you can tell. Ok, so, she really loves food. You can tell by the apps that she chooses to play the most. These apps are fun and they do work on pretend play, creativity and lots more! Wait til you see what she likes to top her donuts with…oh, boy, she’s her father’s child, for sure!:)

Abbey loves the app Little Solver, and I can’t figure out how she gets them right so much of the time! Shows us all how much more she knows, love it! Here she is playing a lot of really fun problem solving apps!

Here are Abbey’s fav puzzle apps! Obviously, puzzles are one of her strengths…look at her go! She loves puzzles! The app where you have to manipulate and turn the pieces has been a fav for quite a while, but know that this is the 3rd level, the first 2 levels lead up to that one. So, it doesn’t start out that hard. This one is great for fine motor skills and problem solving!

So, click below to see some fun puzzle apps that Abbey thinks are great!

Ok, I’ve posted about Pictello before, how we use this app for social stories, teaching Abbey what to expect, what to do in situations. So, we’ve got stories about Going to the Dentist, for example.

We also love Pictello because it has opened up a new world for Abbey. She figured out that she loves to look at pics of herself and her family doing things. So, I make stories about our trips, about new things she does and experiences, so she can look at it all again!

Well, yes, Pictello just got even better! Not only is it very simple to use, for myself and for Abbey…but now, YES, you can ADD VIDEOS!! Wow, to see Abbey’s face, the first time she opened up one of her stories, clicked on a page and it was a video….priceless! She started off with a huge grin and then was just giddy! It adds another whole dimension! So, now to think about ways we can use this new feature to help her learn and grow….

Here’s a pdf, Growing Beans, of one short, simple story I made using Pictello, of us planting bean seeds. I hope to use it again next year and see what she can do without my help! The page in the story without words, is actually a video,:) If you have Pictello, we can share stories! I can send you a Pictello link of a story that you can put on your Pictello, to look at and use, if you’d like.:) Just let me know!

I always get excited when a new app comes along that totally intrigues Abbey! This one, for the iPad, called Writing Wizard, did the trick!! It has so much to offer, things that kids love like fun interactions and things that us parents love, like amazing customization, detailed reports on how they are doing AND, it’s free today!!

It’s a really fun one..check it out!:) Here’s a video of us playing with it!

Abbey loves tracing and learning to write because of these apps, they make it fun! Out of the many we have tried, these are by far, her favorites…the ones she will pull up on her own and play with over and over. To me, that is very important, a motivation to learn! Here is a video of her using all three…Abbey’s Video.

The first is Write My Name by Injini. This app is for the iPad, only. It gives her three choices of what to trace: letters, words or her ‘name cards’ that I have customized for her. For the name cards, you can use add whatever you’d like. We chose to use the people in her family, including their pictures, names and their own voices saying their names. So, Abbey sees our pictures, learns to write our names and hears each of our voices. I believe this has helped her learn who we all are. Sounds strange that we would need to teach her this, but just a few months ago, she really didn’t know our names. If I asked her to give something to a certain family member, she didn’t have a clue. She’s learning and enjoying learning!

The next app is Letter School and what fun it is! They chose letters or numbers to trace. What is so unique about this app is that there are three levels of learning for each letter/number. All they have to do is touch a ‘dot’ in the first level (first star) and it shows them how to make it. The next level (second star they click on) shows the letter and they need to trace it the correct way. Once they get these first two levels correct, it offers them a third star at the bottom to click on to try the third level. For the third level, it briefly shows them the letter and then it disappears, only showing where to start. They have to write the letter/number on their own. This sounds like maybe it gets too hard, too fast, but don’t worry. If they have trouble, it shows them arrows of which way to go and then if they still have difficulty, it shows parts of the letter for them. This helps Abbey succeed, so she wants to keep trying.

The third app is Elmo Loves ABC’s, (there is also a lite, free version available.) This app is for the iPad only. What’s funny, is I had taken this app off, as it is a fairly large app in the way of how much space it takes up. Abbey saw a screenshot picture under her photos, a picture taken by mistake probably. She saw this app and put my finger on it, wanting it open, so yes, we have put it back on and she loves it! It has a fun alphabet song (which Abbey plays a bit too much, for my liking:) and then tracing and videos for each letter. Abbey enjoys picking a letter and tracing it, then watching the video. And, she loves Elmo, so I am sure this is a very motivating factor, as well!🙂

Here’s some other great handwriting/tracing apps you can try with your kids: